Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The
Nishada Kingdom was the kingdom of the Nishada Tribe, a tribe of people who the
Vedic people considered valour and courageous.

To those of us still
following Cricket with no result in the past 10 days… in a lengthy 7 match
series preceded by a T20 whence India started with a bang and in between chased
with ease 360 losing just a solitary wicket…. The series is still 1-2 down with
that Faulkner effort haunting…. ~ in between the little Master Sachin Tendulkar
played Ranji at Lahli – making that place famous…. That match is intriguingly poised – not so a
regular match [not even because of Sachin’s last Ranji… !!] ~ capacity crowds – 1st innings of below 150
by each team and now Mumbai needing 39 more and Haryana needing those 4
wickets…………. Sachin stands in between unbeaten on 55…

Back to International
cricket, fans are expecting that there would be no further rains and it would
only rain fours and sixers at Nagpur…. It is going to be at the new Jamtha
stadium which could be another batsman’s paradise. Rain has ensured that Aussies could not
become no. 1 in ranking but India needs another victory to stay alive in the
home series – India has lost more ODI series at home to Australia.

Nagpur – is called city of Oranges. This major commercial and political centre of
Vidarbha region is famous for oranges.
Nagpur lies precisely at the center of the country with the Zero Mile
Marker indicating the geographical center of India Citrus Sinensis is commonly grown tree
fruit. Vidarbha is the eastern region
of Maharashtra state. Its former name is
Berar (Varhad in Marathi). Vidarbha
holds two-thirds of Maharashtra's mineral resources, three quarters of its
Forest Resources. In recent times, there have been calls for a separate state
of Vidarbha, due to perceived neglect from the Government of Maharashtra and
incompetent political leadership in Vidarbha.

The match is to be
played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium (also New VCA stadium), a Test cricket ground built in 2008. VCA Stadium is the home ground for the Vidharba
and Central Zone teams for the domestic Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy
tournaments, respectively. The stadium is located in the Jamtha neighborhood,
about 15 km from Nagpur. Spread over 33 acres (130,000 m2), VCA Stadium
features include, Ultra modern media box, gym for players, VIP and Corporate
boxes, wi-fi coverage and a capacity of 45,000. The stadium has four stands.
The East and West stands are open to air stands with two tiers.

There has been news
of impediments – ToI reported that Vidarbha Cricket Association has been asked
to obtain state government's permission before proceeding with online ticket
sale of the India-Australia ODI at Jamtha stadium on October 30. The VCA was
also in the dock for not complying with the requisite fire safety norms at the
stadium as the authorities had not obtained a no objection certificate from the
Nagpur Municipal Corporation's fire and emergency services department. Nagpur
Municipal Corporation (NMC) fire and emergency services department had, since
October 7, refused to give NOC for the match, pending compliance with fire
safety norms at the Jamtha stadium. The VCA has already organized 22 matches,
including 11 international, three IPL and eight of Challenger Trophy, without a
full-proof fire safety system at the international-level stadium. However, now
it has been forced to ensure temporary fire preventive and safety mechanisms
before it is allowed to host the October 30 match.

TOI further reported that VCA
submitted an undertaking along with Rs 50 lakh bank guarantee and plan of
temporary fire safety mechanisms being installed at the stadium. VCA promised
to install permanent fire preventive and safety systems at the stadium within
six months. The option of making temporary arrangements was given to VCA when
it said that the permanent fire safety system could not be installed before the
match.

Once the Online sale was approved,
Cricket fans thronged the website as soon as online tickets sales started on
www.bookmyshow.com. Some managed to book tickets but many faced a lot of
inconvenience. Anyone trying to book a ticket was shown the message, "All
seats are currently in transaction process, please try again after
sometime", for hours together.

If you move away from
Cricket to the other important C ‘Cotton”, the cotton growers in Vidarbha
region have been under duress for too long.
Recent reports suggested that meagre compensation amounts of Rs 80 and
Rs 100 are being given though the Chief Minister had announced a Rs.2,000 crore
aid package for the flood-hit regions. The
Hindu reported of a farmer from Wardha district in the Vidarbha region of
Maharashtra, who suffered losses of around Rs.15, 000 during the last monsoon
floods, being aghast to receive a compensation amount of Rs.80.

According to NGO
Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) chief Kishore Tiwari, “Thousands of cheques
bearing compensation amounts like Rs.80, Rs.100, and Rs.150 are lying in
various tehsildar offices, but the farmers are refusing to collect them,” ~ it
further states that “The most shocking part is that some officials came to
survey his premises, they had tea and snacks in his home and even took Rs.100
promising to expedite his claims. VJAS demands that these officials be
suspended and booked.” The meagre compensation amounts are being doled out though
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had announced a total aid package of Rs.2,000
crore for the severely flood-hit regions of eastern Maharashtra during the
monsoon fury this year. Several districts of the Vidarbha region, especially
Wardha, Amravati, Yavatmal, were severely affected by deluge during this year’s
monsoon in July-August.

It is
indeed sad to read of the plight of the farmers. Ekalavya was a king of a Nishada tribe. Nishadha was the kingdom of the celebrated
king Nala Chakravarthi, who loved and married Damayanti the princess ofVidarbha
Kingdom. Nala is known for his undeterred commitment to the path of
righteousness even under duress. This
kingdom is identified with current day Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh.